» We’re Looking For a Few Good Climate Defenders

July 15th, 2009

We’re Looking For a Few Good Climate Defenders

Anil Kanji

Greenpeace has been fighting climate change for many years. In fact, on my desk is a copy of “Global Warming: The Greenpeace Report” released in 1990. It was a preparatory document for the Rio Earth Summit in June 1992, where the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was opened for signing for the first time by the countries of the world. We’ve has been represented at every major international negotiation on climate change since that time. Long before then, along with other Canadian environmental groups, we were working hard to raise public awareness of the issues around climate change, and worked to mount increasing pressure on our federal government to act to curb global warming emissions.

Last year, as the climate science pointed to an increasingly urgent threat, we banded together with other NGOs across Canada, putting aside our differences to create the KYOTOplus coalition, which has been endorsed by over 60 environmental, social change, faith , labour and student groups. This diverse array of groups across Canada reflects how climate change affects everyone, on multiple levels. Today KYOTOplus includes not just prominent environmental groups such as Greenpeace and the David Suzuki Foundation, but also organizations such as KAIROS (the ecumenical Christian organization), the Canadian Union of Public employees (CUPE – the largest union in Canada), the Canadian Association for Physicians for the Environment, Oxfam, and the Feminist Alliance for Environmental Action - plus many others.

While the members of the coalition often approach the challenge of combatting climate change from different perspectives, all agree that the cost of letting our government do nothing is too high. Together we decided that one of the best ways to work together was to channel the voices of Canadians through a petition campaign, sending a strong message to the federal government, insisting on action to halt climate change.

Although we’ve had over 40,000 KYOTOplus petitions signed, we need your help to make sure each and every Canadian has a chance to add their name. That’s why we’ve built an online community of people like you who want to help: The KYOTOplus Climate Defenders.

Becoming a Climate Defender gives you your own action page on greenpeace.ca. You can customize your own “home page” message, add videos and pictures, and then send friends and family here to sign the KYOTOplus petition or to donate funds. You can plug in your postal code to see if your MP has signed the petition. If they haven’t, you’re one click away from sending them a letter to encourage them to do so. Finally, you’ll see a list of your friends and family who’ve signed the petition or donated - you can email them back to thank them for their support, and encourage them to do more.

As a Climate Defender, we’ll also stay in touch with you via a Google Group about upcoming activities, and documents, as well as sharing the latest news on climate science and climate negotiations.

Become a Climate Defender today! Signing up takes less than a minute.

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